Stupidity: Very soon after Damon is stranded, one of the many satellites around Mars inevitably picks up the fact that he has moved various objects around his site, indicating that he's still alive. Yet it never occurs to him that this would obviously, eventually happen. In which case, his best option would be to simply spell out a message with debris and stay put instead of planning some 50-day journey.
The Martian (2015)
1 stupidity
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara
Other mistake: During the storm scene in the beginning of the movie, the astronauts' faces inside the helmets are brightly lit, meaning there's a light source pointed directly in their face. That's something that would render them mostly blind and unable to see and appears to be nothing but a dramatic effect for the camera. (00:05:00 - 00:08:00)
Mark Watney: Fuck you, Mars.
Trivia: When discussing "Operation Elrond", the Director says he wants his codename to be "Glorfindel." This shows he has read the book, as Glorfindel was cut out of the movie and replaced with Arwen.
Question: If the MAV could be blown over by a storm of sufficient force, wasn't it very risky dropping the Ares IV Mav five years in advance of the mission?
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Answer: The crew (and mission control) are in constant contact with the previously dropped MAV and would have aborted the mission and continued back to Earth had the MAV become inoperable before their arrival. Weir states this explicitly early in the book.
Answer: Yes, it is very risky unless the new Ares MAV is in an area with much calmer weather patterns.